Claude Debussy Biography - A Very Quick Guide
Artist:
Claude Debussy
Born:
1862, St Germain-en-Laye
Died:
1918, Paris
Who was Claude Debussy?
French composer Claude Debussy (christened Achille-Claude Debussy) was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. The eldest of five children, his father, Manuel-Achille Debussy, owned a small china shop, his mother, Victorine Manoury Debussy, was a seamstress.
How was his early life?
Though his family was of modest means and not particularly musical, his parents were quick to recognise and support their young son’s talents. At the age of ten he entered the Paris Conservatoire as a piano student, where he remained for the following eleven years.
Whilst there he was a successful though sometimes lazy student of his instrument, his failure in competitions in 1878 and 1879 making him ineligible to continue piano classes. He was anyway by this time increasingly drawn to composition, which he continued to study at the Conservatoire, even though his unorthodox approach drew academic disapproval.
In 1884 Debussy won the coveted Prix de Rome with his cantata L’enfant prodigue. The allowed a stay and a period of study in Italy at the Villa Medici. The experience was not a happy one—he found the atmosphere there stifling and the Italian opera he heard uninspiring. He did, however, come to admire the music of Renaissance composers Palestrina and Lassus, which he heard at the church of Santa Maria dell’Anima.
What was he like as a person?
Debussy was often seen as reserved, moody and introspective, even though friends noted that he could also be witty and charismatic in conversation. In his music he was independent, sensitive and a perfectionist, characteristics that often led to him clashing with authority figures that judged him by conventional standards.
Was Debussy an Impressionist?
Debussy was the first composer to be labelled ‘Impressionist’, a term that derives from painters such as Monet, Manet and Degas, who prioritised mood, colour and atmosphere over form. With its shimmering harmonies, subtle orchestral colours, fluid rhythms and ambiguous forms it is, indeed, possible to hear his music as analogous to Impressionist art. Debussy himself, however, rejected the term, saying that his music sought new forms of expression, not to imitate existing ones. He also preferred the term ‘symbolist’, drawing inspiration from poets such as Mallarmé and Verlaine.
Why is his music important?
Though briefly under the influence of Wagner he later called the German composer’s music ‘a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn,’ recognising that he needed to find new modes of expression. In doing so, his works marked a turning point in Western music, indeed some scholars, such as Paul Griffiths, have called it the starting point of all twentieth century music.
Debussy greatly expanded the language of tonal harmony through the use of modal, whole-tone and pentatonic scales, creating music that often seems to float, with no clear tonal direction. This is also reflected in his large-scale musical forms, which lack the goal direction associated with late Romantic music, instead emphasising the moment and the journey itself. His music had a profound influence upon composers such as Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, and even jazz musicians like Bill Evans.
What types of music did he write?
Debussy composed in a wide range of genres including piano music; orchestral works (though he never wrote a symphony, considering the form outdated); songs, especially setting works by Symbolist poets; an opera, Pelléas et Mélisande; a ballet, Jeux; and other chamber music.
What are his most well-known works?
(from Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905)
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894)
Nocturnes (1897–99)
La Mer (1903–05)
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera, 1893–1902)
Images (1905–12)
Children’s Corner (1908)
Deux Arabesques (1888–91)
Estampes (1903)
Préludes for piano, 2 books (1909-10 and 1911-12)
Jeux (ballet, 1913)
What was was the the Emma Bardac scandal?
In 1904 Debussy became romantically involved with Emma Bardac, a married singer and mother of one of his pupils. When he informed his own wife, Rosalie ‘Lilly’ Texier, that their marriage was over, she shot herself in the chest. She survived, though the bullet remained in her body for the rest of her life.
The scandal caused many of his colleagues, such as Dukas, Messager and even Ravel, to side with his Texier, some them becoming permanently hostile to Debussy.
How did Claude Debussy die?
In 1909 Debussy was diagnosed with colon cancer, undergoing one of the first colostomy operations in 1915. Though this offered temporary respite, it left him considerably weakened, his health declining further as war raged across France.
Debussy died at his home in Paris on March 25, 1918. Because of the ongoing hostilities with Germany he did not receive a public funeral, his body being quietly interred in a temporary grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery. It was later reburied in the small Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, fulfilling his wish to rest ‘among the trees and the birds.’
Useful Resources:
French composer Claude Debussy (christened Achille-Claude Debussy) was born on August 22, 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris. The eldest of five children, his father, Manuel-Achille Debussy, owned a small china shop, his mother, Victorine Manoury Debussy, was a seamstress.
How was his early life?
Though his family was of modest means and not particularly musical, his parents were quick to recognise and support their young son’s talents. At the age of ten he entered the Paris Conservatoire as a piano student, where he remained for the following eleven years.
Whilst there he was a successful though sometimes lazy student of his instrument, his failure in competitions in 1878 and 1879 making him ineligible to continue piano classes. He was anyway by this time increasingly drawn to composition, which he continued to study at the Conservatoire, even though his unorthodox approach drew academic disapproval.
In 1884 Debussy won the coveted Prix de Rome with his cantata L’enfant prodigue. The allowed a stay and a period of study in Italy at the Villa Medici. The experience was not a happy one—he found the atmosphere there stifling and the Italian opera he heard uninspiring. He did, however, come to admire the music of Renaissance composers Palestrina and Lassus, which he heard at the church of Santa Maria dell’Anima.
What was he like as a person?
Debussy was often seen as reserved, moody and introspective, even though friends noted that he could also be witty and charismatic in conversation. In his music he was independent, sensitive and a perfectionist, characteristics that often led to him clashing with authority figures that judged him by conventional standards.
Was Debussy an Impressionist?
Debussy was the first composer to be labelled ‘Impressionist’, a term that derives from painters such as Monet, Manet and Degas, who prioritised mood, colour and atmosphere over form. With its shimmering harmonies, subtle orchestral colours, fluid rhythms and ambiguous forms it is, indeed, possible to hear his music as analogous to Impressionist art. Debussy himself, however, rejected the term, saying that his music sought new forms of expression, not to imitate existing ones. He also preferred the term ‘symbolist’, drawing inspiration from poets such as Mallarmé and Verlaine.
Why is his music important?
Though briefly under the influence of Wagner he later called the German composer’s music ‘a beautiful sunset that was mistaken for a dawn,’ recognising that he needed to find new modes of expression. In doing so, his works marked a turning point in Western music, indeed some scholars, such as Paul Griffiths, have called it the starting point of all twentieth century music.
Debussy greatly expanded the language of tonal harmony through the use of modal, whole-tone and pentatonic scales, creating music that often seems to float, with no clear tonal direction. This is also reflected in his large-scale musical forms, which lack the goal direction associated with late Romantic music, instead emphasising the moment and the journey itself. His music had a profound influence upon composers such as Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, and even jazz musicians like Bill Evans.
What types of music did he write?
Debussy composed in a wide range of genres including piano music; orchestral works (though he never wrote a symphony, considering the form outdated); songs, especially setting works by Symbolist poets; an opera, Pelléas et Mélisande; a ballet, Jeux; and other chamber music.
What are his most well-known works?
(from Suite bergamasque, 1890–1905)
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894)
Nocturnes (1897–99)
La Mer (1903–05)
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera, 1893–1902)
Images (1905–12)
Children’s Corner (1908)
Deux Arabesques (1888–91)
Estampes (1903)
Préludes for piano, 2 books (1909-10 and 1911-12)
Jeux (ballet, 1913)
What was was the the Emma Bardac scandal?
In 1904 Debussy became romantically involved with Emma Bardac, a married singer and mother of one of his pupils. When he informed his own wife, Rosalie ‘Lilly’ Texier, that their marriage was over, she shot herself in the chest. She survived, though the bullet remained in her body for the rest of her life.
The scandal caused many of his colleagues, such as Dukas, Messager and even Ravel, to side with his Texier, some them becoming permanently hostile to Debussy.
How did Claude Debussy die?
In 1909 Debussy was diagnosed with colon cancer, undergoing one of the first colostomy operations in 1915. Though this offered temporary respite, it left him considerably weakened, his health declining further as war raged across France.
Debussy died at his home in Paris on March 25, 1918. Because of the ongoing hostilities with Germany he did not receive a public funeral, his body being quietly interred in a temporary grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery. It was later reburied in the small Passy Cemetery in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, fulfilling his wish to rest ‘among the trees and the birds.’
Useful Resources:
Encyclopaedia Britannica — entry on Claude Debussy
Wikipedia — entry on Claude Debussy
Royal Holloway University of London — Claude Debussy: His Musical Style and Influences
8notes Collection — Free Debussy Sheet Music
Top Pieces on 8notes by Claude Debussy